I could be predictable and say the story is about the English patient, as the title suggests, or any of the main characters, but it’s not. It’s not even about living through World War II. To me this novel is about survival.
It is about surviving the inner demons that haunt each of us. Although the brutal acts of the war make appearances, and the heinous acts against humanity in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki provide a hauntingly severe backdrop to the novel’s conclusion, the story focuses more on the internal struggle of the four characters. And to this effect, there is a quote in From Boys to Men that sums up my thoughts on this book: “I always remind myself: stories haunt you, and memories. Not people.” (252)
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